Thanks, Annabel. I know, that's why I plan to stay on it only for two months. I'm taking daily multi-vitamins and calciums also.

You know I didn't want to hear that A friend at the rink today told me that she heard that the weight comes off suddenly after a week or two. I haven't gained at it turns out, but if I don't show a loss by this time next week, it's over.

The problem I have with WW is that I have to get under 18 points a day now to loose any weight and I just can't manage that. That's with exercise! I can step up the exercise, but I just haven't been motivated to do that yet. I was hoping to jump start some motivation with a little quick weight loss via Atkins, then go back to the sensible WW program.

BTW, I love the Wendy's Mandarin Chicken salad, but even with just half the dressing they give you, it is TEN points. That leaves me just 8 for the entire rest of the day, and I like to start with about 6 for breakfast. I've tried every variation of low cal/low fat frozen dinners, but I won't eat anything that has more than 5 points because it doesn't leave me enough room for other meals and snacking. I never eat lunch, but insist on a real breakfast and sunflower seeds (and maybe 4oz of wine) at night after dinner, and I do enjoy the occasional modest dessert.

Any suggestions other than just eating next to nothing and learning to live with it?

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Ummm - you could be happy with yourself as you are? You aren't badly overweight, you know - not unless you have put on any in the last 18 months! Which I doubt, as you are back skating again now. More likely the "weight" is muscle - which weighs far more than fat. How are your clothes fitting?

I do have occasional weeks when I have masses of green vegetables, either cooked or raw, and not a great deal else, but other than that I just keep fat and sugar to a minimum (occasional splurges permitted)and hope for the best. They do say that once you hit 50 you can have either a face or a figure, but not both....

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Well, that would be sensible, and I have made some concessions to it, but the weight that I want to get rid of is a big blob of fat on my belly. I was always very thin and never had any fat there, but I know it is a result of age and having kids. Still, I pine to be rid of it. My goal is to reduce it by half, the rest I could live with. When I first lost the 45 pounds, I felt so slim that I actually was very happy with myself, but now, the belly is really bothering me, in particular because it shows in my skating clothes. I went from a size 16 to a 12, and that is a big improvement. I know I'll never be a size 6 again, but a 10 would be soooo nice. BTW, I'm about 10 pounds slimmer than when we met, Annabel, and that doesn't include the cast

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That can, of course, be reduced instantly by good posture, and more slowly by work on one's abs - crunches, or that roller machine, or whatever. I have a similar problem.... but it does ease if I stand up properly. I think I'm a little slimmer than I was when we met, too, by the way!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Nope, it's a bit more than that... a solid (or should I say "flabby") two and a half inches of blubber. Even worse, in today's NY Times, Science Section, there was an article about the link between fat and cancer. According to the height/weight chart in the article, I am 10 pounds into the "overweight" category. Not bad, considering I came down from "obese", but I really do need to get rid of that 10 pounds.

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I have decided life's too short. I am going to keep an eye on my weight, make sure I don't go back up, drink lots of soup (there is a new batch finishing on the stove!) and eat lots of green veg and salads, to try to lose the last 10-15 lbs I need to, but I'm not going to stress about it. I shall always have to be careful, but....

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

I too have that spare tire around the middle problem -- it is the last place I have to lose the weight. A trainer told me that the ONLY way to get rid of it is: cardio, cardio, CARDIO. 6 days a week, at least 30 minutes per session. He said everything else, including the skating and weightlifting, is "gravy". Sorry for the bad news.

Even worse news--after over a year of doing that much cardio AND weight training, no weight loss. However, no weight gain either, and I enjoy my beer. But I feel better, and I'm much stronger and firmer. Only part of my body I can't get motivated to exercise is upper abs, via crunches. And it shows!! I'll have to get around to it eventually, because my upper abs are very flabby compared to the rest of me now.

Okay, enough bad news....

I've lost so far about 9-10 lbs. The spare tire is still there, but it's getting noticably deflated. My method is just to watch my portions and eat healthy but not go anal on which foods I should or shouldn't eat. (So, if I want a pie, I have a very small slice...just enough to keep me happy!) I also upped my cardio from 30 minutes 3-4 times a week to 45 minutes 4 times a week. (Drink lots of water too!!!)

This is a lifestyle change, not some diet that you'll go off once you've reached your goal. Unfortunately keeping the weight off (maintanance) is probably the difficult part for me...

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Which explains why a tape-measure is a better gauge of fitness than scales are, since when you exercise you gain muscle, which weighs heavier than fat. You have lost fat and gained muscle, which is why your weight is unchanged.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

True, but often the problem is not realizing how much you're eating, and worse, how much of the wrong stuff. If you're exercising a lot, and really haven't lost any weight, you might want to track more exactly what you're eating just for a while, to establish a benchmark. Not necessarily the case here, but perhaps worth investigating. A loonnnggg time ago when I was in grad school and exercising a lot (squash, weights, biking) and not losing weight, I started tracking what i was eating and promptly lost something like 35 pounds in around 6 months, without seriously depriving myself.

I myself just signed up for weight watchers on line. I get a lot of exercise, and do feel much better than, say 3-4 years ago, but I'm obviously not eating the right things or I'm eating too much of some things! I still have to study the winning points system, but I'd say I've been eating waayyy too much. I think I just need a bit more structure for awhile. For me, it's about awareness more than anything.

Pat

After discovering that I was doing Atkins wrong and realizing that I was using it as an excuse to overeat the absolutely worst foods, I declared my vacation from insanity to be over and am now back on Weight Watchers 123. I am greatly enjoying my 4 point breakfast of a rich, whole grain bread toasted with an over-easy egg on top. I never eat lunch anyway, but have a ton of raw veggies if I need a snack. Dinner varies, but I try to allow 8 points for it, and then, there are my beloved sunflower seeds salted in the shell for bedtime snack. I hit the Nordic Trac for the first time in months and did 10 minutes with no effort at all, except that I paid for it the next day. My rule will be to do at least 10 min on any day I don't skate, with the goal of raising it to 30 min. I am determined to lose that 10 pounds!

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I've lost 4 pounds in the last 22 days.

DBNY-- You only eat 12 points a day? Wow. I also signed up for Weight Watchers on line and I don't think I could live on 12 points a day. You're obviously a much smaller person than me!

But I've lost 2 pounds in about a little less than 2 weeks, so I'm happy. and not so hungry in the evenings any more, which is good.

Gary --congrats on your weight loss, too!

Pat

Sorry for giving the wrong impression. I'm allowed all of 18 points a day if I still want to lose weight. I can easily manage the additional 6 points in sunflower seeds and things like fruit, Weight Watchers ice cream bars or Tootsie Roll pops. Believe me, even 18 points seems like next to nothing. My problem is that I'm 5'3" tall and 56 years old. The pounds just don't fall off like they did 20 years ago.

Congrats on losing those 2 pounds!

Gary - way to go!

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I'm 5"3 tall and 45 years old, and the pounds don't fall all like they used to for me either. Funny thing for me is I was the same weight I am now at 15 (130 and lusting after 127) when they called me fat, and now they call me thin. B

But I don't see why you are restricted to 18 points. I figured out with the exercise that I can do 25 points. And that's still not enough, given my fondness for beer.

dbny-- Oh, 18 is better than 12, although I agree it's not a lot. I'm still learning about the whole points thing, but at the beginning I was probably eating 30 points a day and now I'm in the 25-27 sort of range. Actually, I feel like I'm getting plenty to eat now since I think my choices are better. And I know what you mean about the pounds not falling off quickly any more!

Gaela-- The points you are allowed to eat are of course affected by how much exercise you get (as well as your starting weight and your goal weight). But if you are going to follow the whole weight watchers points system, there are rules for how many exercise points you are allowed to use each day and how many you can bank or withdraw from your bank. Sure, you could exercise more and keep a separate tally, and I don't know how dbny is doing things, but I'm trying to actually follow all the rules for several months before I start making changes. And now that I'm picking better foods, I'm not very hungry at night after I skate, whereas I used to be starving!

Pat

Hello all. Thought I'd drop by and share a bit!

I started running two weeks ago, mostly because my BMI had just crossed over into Obese(31) from Overweight (30-24). After two weeks I'm down 5 lbs and up from 12 minutes of running to 23 and 1 mile to almost 2. I plan to add two minutes to my run time every two days.

Unbelieveably, for a fat person I'm in pretty good shape and found that my heart rate wasn't in the target range when I was just walking, so one day I just decided "I'm going to run a mile tomorrow morning." So I measured a mile from the end of my block using my car's odometer and got up early the next morning and did it. I thought I was going to die that morning, LOL! But I refused to break my promise and I ran the whole mile. Well, running is a pretty loose term, I think a fast walker could pass me by, LOL

The next morning was easier. In fact, every day got easier and this morning when I added two minutes to make it 23 minutes (plus another 10 walking back to my house), I felt like I might have had more time in me.

And this morning, according to my scale, I passed back into Overweight from Obese on the BMI scale.

So, that's my goal: five pounds every two weeks for the next 20 weeks will put me back at my high school weight of 130. I know I'll hit plateaus in there and I do plan to take up strength training as soon as hubby and I finish tiling and grouting the bathroom (no way I can grout with sore arms and back!). But I'm making this public NOW so that we can all cheer each other on and help each other out! Hold me accountable!!!

Way to go, Quark!!!!!


A lot less stressful on your knees. Save them for jumps.

Awwww...don't talk to me about diets!!! Have tried everything to lose the 10 pounds that I want to lose. Even Weight Watchers failed to work on me. I've been on 1300 calories of low fat food daily but still the scales stick. Anyway people have been telling me that I don't eat enough for all the skating I do. I skate 3 to 4 times a week for 2 - 2.5 hours a time so I guess I am burning heaps of calories. I'm now trying to increase my daily intake a little to see if it helps. But I know how annoying it is to have the odd few pounds creep up on you and find it hard to lose it again. Good luck with your weight loss.

You're the one with the real efficient metabolism who will survive the famine! We have so much to eat that it's turned a good thing into a bad thing.

Quarkiki: That's determination! Congrats & keep it up.

LOL, I felt thin at 150 after losing 45 pounds! That's relativity

When I was 15, I weighed all of 110 pounds and didn't go up to my regular adult weight of 116 until I was 18. Now I would feel definitely svelte if I could get to 130, and I would be very pleased with 140.

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Just an update...
I lost another 3 pounds for a total of 5 in a little less than 3 weeks! My clothes are all looser, and my hip pads that I wear skating are starting to slide around under my leggings. But that's okay! And this is with eating out a number of times to celebrate a promotion and my birthday!

Only problem now is that my points range has dropped... Oh well.

I hope everyone else is doing well.
Pat

Good for you, Pat!

I haven't been doing it long enough to get results, but I am using the Nordic Trac every day that I don't skate, and some that I do. I've been doing 10 minutes, using my arms also every other minute, as they are really not used to exercise at all. I've upped it in the last two days to the ten minutes, then switching to milage and continuing on to make it a full mile, which currently comes to 13 minutes. I doesn't even seem hard to do, which is very surprising. I put the TV on full blast and just watch whatever there is.

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Woo Hoo! Just got off the scale and I lost 2 pounds! Love that Nordic Trac.

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dbny-- Congrats to you, too!